“Swipe Back” Protests High Fares in NYC

The Waging
Nonviolence blog featured a couple of posts recently that touch on
tax resistance:

In “Swipe Back” to
protest high transportation costs, Laura Gottesdiener describes a
tactic being used by activists in New York City to protest hikes in
transit fares: “riders are banding together to use unlimited passes to
swipe as many people as possible through the turnstiles, thereby giving
people a free ride.” Through some oversight, this tactic is not yet
illegal, according to the
“Swipe Back” campaign
that is advocating it:

We’ve tried to talk to them. But they won’t listen. So we have to
protest. We would boycott the subway, if we could. But since it’s an
essential public service, we need it, to get to our jobs and live our
lives.

So instead of boycotting, we find ways to express our protest, like
this: If you use your unlimited card to swipe someone else in, then
you’re effectively helping them boycott the fare hike, sort of like
boycotting it forward.

New York (UP) — A Presbyterian minister
filed his income tax Monday. It consisted
of a three-page letter to the collector of internal revenue on his political
views, a copy of the gospels and Henry Thoreau’s essay on civil disobedience.

The Rev. A.J. Muste said he
would not file a return or pay taxes because he opposes the armament race
between the U.S.
and Russia.

He refused to file for 1948 and 1949, too.

He was joined by 58 other pacifists in 14 states who belong to the Tax
Refusal Committee of Peacemakers.

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